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Region dodges major wind damage

Two southbound semi-trucks were blown into the Interstate 15 median Sunday afternoon by the gusting winds that affected most of the state of Montana.

“Luckily there were just minor injuries,” said Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Kurt Miller. “… With the gusts they just folded into the median.”

Miller said the trailers were empty behind both trucks and that the gusts carried the trailers off the road late Sunday morning near mile marker 355, just south of the Marias River valley. All lanes remained open.

The trooper added that wind was pulling debris off of other vehicles—like an awning from a fifth-wheel camper—and that motorists should be careful traveling in windy conditions if they needed to go out at all.

The National Weather Service issued a high-wind warning for most of the state Sunday that remained in effect through 6 p.m. along the Front, including Great Falls. The warning expires at 9 p.m. for most southern and eastern Montana counties. Winds were been gusting consistently between 55 and 65 mph throughout the region during the day Sunday with sustained winds of 35 to 45 mph.

“As of 2 p.m. winds are gusting up to 65 mph just north of Lewistown and around 60 mph just south of Harlem,” NWS meteorologist Jim Brusda said Sunday afternoon.

An 83 mph wind gust in Pendroy was the state’s highest Sunday morning, followed by a gust clocked at 81 mph in East Glacier, also Sunday morning. The highest gusts recorded in Great Falls were 60 mph, both at the NWS station and at Malmstrom Air Force Base. Winds in Cut Bank, Shelby and Havre all gusted to at least 55 mph.

Brusda said the winds were strong enough to bring down trees and branches or blow around loose objects potentially causing damage to buildings and power lines. Officials with the Great Falls Police Department and Montana Highway Patrol reported no major wind-related damage or power outages in the city or surrounding areas Sunday night aside from the semi wrecks on I-15.

While the winds may have been unusually strong even for northcentral Montana, the conditions that brought it weren’t unusual at all.

“It was actually just a very simple Pacific cool front moving through,” Brusda explained. “This time of year the cool fronts have a little better dynamic to them, and it’s just allowed for a strong downslope wind (off the Rocky Mountain Front) to develop behind the cool front.”

The NWS issued a Red Flag Warning Sunday for many portions of southern and eastern Montana — including the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, the Lower Missouri Breaks area and areas east and south of Bozeman — meaning low humidity conditions combined with the strong winds can create erratic fire behavior and potential for new fire starts, Brusda said.

NBC Montana reported around 2 p.m. Sunday that crews Gallatin County were fighting a 3,000-acre wildfire north of Manhattan in the Horseshoe Hills. Firefighters were battling the blaze from both the ground and air.

A map showing wind gusts across the state can be found here. The NWS in Great Falls provides updates on Twitter, @NWSGreatFalls.